Pint-Sized Entrepreneurs Aid Victims
Across the nation, the tiniest business titans have hawked everything from lemonade to flags made of beads to patriotic ribbons to help victims regroup after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Mini-moguls, some as young as 4, have raised perhaps as much as $1 million for the American Red Cross alone, in what educators and nonprofit experts call an extraordinary outpouring.
In the process, they’ve learned some adult-sized lessons about supply and demand, overhead and even worker fatigue. And though most are too young to have a clear idea of what their career paths will be, parents and career counselors said their experience with the impromptu enterprises could stick with the youngsters for a lifetime.
“By engaging in these creative entrepreneurial ventures to raise money for disaster relief, the lessons learned about business will help improve the quality of their lives, whether they decide to become entrepreneurs or not,” said Brad Kaufman of the Colorado-based Junior Achievement program, which is not directly involved with the enterprises.
Often, the ideas for the makeshift businesses came from grown-ups anxious to help the nation’s youngest citizens find some way to contribute to the recovery process.
The projects--the first taste of entrepreneurship for many--ranged from making friendship bracelets in Texas, selling chocolate-chunk oatmeal cookies in Florida to peddling garage sale items in Illinois.
Along the way, they dealt with the kinds of daily problems familiar to grown-up entrepreneurs, from quality control (lemonade that’s too sugary or flag pins that were too abstract) to scheduling conflicts.
“They’re learning a lot of lessons, not only about helping people in need but also how the marketplace works and how one person can make a difference in the marketplace,” said Patrick Von Bargen, executive director of the Washington-based National Commission on Entrepreneurship.
“And that represents the seeds of entrepreneurship.”
Eden Fury, 7, a second-grader at Lanai Road Elementary School in Encino, figures she took in about $250 selling handmade, beaded safety-pin flag pins. The idea originated with Eden’s dad, David Fury, who had seen a similar pin on the child’s pediatrician.
“I liked that each pin had a different design, and that was cool,” said Eden, who was assisted in her endeavors by twin brothers Aaron and Chase, who soon will be 5. The twins created some of the more avant-garde designs, which the family decided to keep off the market.
The money will be delivered in person next week to New York firefighters by Eden’s grandparents. This will effectively end the kitchen-table assembly line that filled colorful plates, shaped like pizza slices, with equally colorful beads and took up much of Eden’s leisure time.
“I wanted to have free time,” Eden said, outlining one of the downsides of being the boss. “I didn’t even have free time on the weekend. And that’s a bummer.”
Last weekend marked the finale for Wash America--a carwash campaign that began with four sisters in Virginia and spread nationwide after Edelman Public Relations got wind of the efforts.
The washes, which were suggested by a family friend, raised more than $71,000 in 75 events held across the country, said Susanne Hackett of Edelman. Along the way, the fund-raisers picked up corporate support from names such as Compaq Computer Corp. and Fuji Photo Film Co. and turned the Welch sisters, ages 10 to 16, into media darlings.
“Marketing was the most challenging part,” said 16-year-old Ashley, whose father, Lt. Col. Tracy Welch of the Air National Guard, was preparing to go to a meeting at the Pentagon when the hijacked plane hit.
“It was difficult to get the word out on what to do and how to do it.”
That’s where 14-year-old Alana stepped in, calling radio stations and helping prepare posters.
“I never really knew about this whole public relations thing,” Alana said. “That’s something I think I might look into” as a career. That or perhaps being the world’s coolest teacher, she said.
Ten-year-old Alyssa was in charge of lemonade sales. She liked counting the money and was happy this lemonade stand was more successful than her previous efforts, which netted just a few dollars.
While Alyssa Welch was pushing lemonade in Virginia, 7-year-old Bretton Keenan was selling “Lemonade for Liberty” on a busy North Hollywood street corner.
In nearly three hours on a sweltering Saturday in September, Bretton, her sister Halie, 4, and a neighbor, also 4, raised $71.50, said Amy Brothman, stepmother of the two sisters.
Brothman, a saleswoman and part-time musician who admits to “always coming up with crazy ideas to make money,” has tried to turn the lemonade idea into a national campaign for children but without much success.
“I thought this was a good opportunity for them to learn how to make money,” Brothman said. “But mostly it was about having fun and helping people.”
For reasons having as much to do with means as with motive, young people are among the least likely to make charitable donations, nonprofit experts said.
That made the youthful outpouring for the Sept. 11 victims and the children of Afghanistan that much more significant.
Los Angeles Unified School District students raised $201,668.03, mostly through donations but also with some earnest enterprises, said Cricket Bauer, a district spokesperson. That’s nearly $70,000 more than the amount students raised earlier this year for earthquake victims in El Salvador.
Robert Alviani, a Junior Achievement consultant for Ventura County, was so impressed with the efforts of the fifth-graders at Somis Elementary School that on Tuesday he presented them with a certificate of achievement.
In four days in mid-September, working during school and after class, 32 9-and 10-year-olds made and sold enough beaded safety-pin flag pins to raise $2,217, said teacher Shirley Otero.
“How does a 10-year-old help in a situation like this?” Alviani asked. “With every dollar they raised going to a family that needs help, that gives them a sense of accomplishment.
“From an entrepreneurial standpoint, it shows them how making money can go toward good things.”
